Behind the Werk:
Drag Queens in Orange County
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That's nawt cute...
by Yesenia Cuevas
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Photo by Sharokina Mirzaie
SHE-HULK
CLICK HERE
As we ascend down the long, smoky, erotically-lit hallway, our thoracic cavities surreptitiously become engulfed by the thick gasses of cigarette smoke. We’re at the end of the hallway, our path interrupted by a black rope barrier, standing behind it while holding his hands up front, eyes scanning in a panoramic fashion, is a security guard named David. Through an exchange of identifications, David quickly lifts the end of the rope and escorts us through. The hallway has now taken us to a dance floor, filled with strobe lights flashing every bright color, rotating in every which direction, making it quite difficult to focus on walking in a straight line; the music is upbeat, filling our ears with its lively variety of different lengths of vibrations. From the center of the ceiling, some sort of foam substance oozes gently down to the ground of the dance floor, completely covering the dancing bodies of the club. It’s difficult to breathe, in fact, we’re fighting back coughs.
“Right this way ladies,” Angel, one of the main Shark Club coordinators of the club’s Drag Queens, leads my group of three towards an immense opening of a room shielded by velvety-black curtains. Angel lifts one side of the curtain and there they are, the Drag Queens of the night. The room is constructed of black walls, one main wall holds a massively gold-framed mirror tilted a little bit downwards, the ground and the few scattered tables along with the couches, are covered by multi-colored outfits made out of brilliant sequins and beads, intrinsic and vivaciously-colored heels and pumps are found within opened suitcases, wigs, jewelry, feathered boas, in addition to acrylic nails and miniature nail glue bottles are all dispersed throughout the corners of the room. As these young men change into their feminine costumes, Angel, in a panicky state, exclaims,
“Girls, come on girls, the show needs to be rolling now, and you’re already supposed to be out there, come on, let’s get to it!”
Nonetheless, the Drag Queens carry on, nonchalantly, carefully picking their jewelry pieces to match their elegant outfits. Out of all of the Drag Queens in the room, one instantly stands out from the crowd. Maybe because of her grand 6-foot-7 height, or her bleach-blonde-sky-high, perfectly teased wig, it’s rather hard to miss Twiggy. Her eyes are what capture and hold your attention, for Twiggy has piercing blue eyes, the whites/blues/grays of her eyeshadow are artistically brushed on her eyelids, and her face is just perfectly contoured to showcase feminine features. Her bodysuit tightly hugs her body that could easily pass as female, for she has a thin waist, yet curvy hips. She’s the host of the Drag Show; her hosting style can be described to be a mixture of off-color humor and promiscuity.
Q: How did you get into Drag?
A: Ever since I was a little boy, I would always play dress-up, I would wear my grandma’s dresses and heels and I would spend the day vacuuming in her heels, just to get the hang of being comfortable. I would play with my mother’s make up and I did that all the way since I was a little boy till I got to high school, there, I joined the Shadow Casting Theatre and I would audition for female roles. I built my confidence and soon as I graduated from high school, I got hired here at the Shark Club, auditioned to be the host of the Drag Show and have been here for about 6 years now.
Q: Do you know the history of Drag?
A: I’ve made it a point to know the history of Drag. You should always know what your ancestors did before, to paint the way you’re walking today. Drag has definitely become more mainstream because of RuPaul’s Drag Race, it’s a business after all, I’ve been doing this for 6 years and I’m 24 right now.
Q: Do you live as a man outside of the Shark Club, do you have a job? Relationship?
A: Yes. I live as a regular Joe outside of Shark Club, actually a lot of people don’t recognize me when I’m not in my costume of Drag, which I think it means a very good thing, means I’m doing my job. I identify myself as a gay male, and yes, I have a wonderful and supportive boyfriend. I used to work as a server at Bubba Gumps, but I quit so I could be more involved with the Drag community, for I feel it’s not only my passion, but it’s also my duty to give back to the Drag Queen community. For example, I host multiple RuPaul’s Drag Race viewing parties.
Q: How long does it take to get ready for your Drag Show appearance?
A: It takes about 2 ½ hours to get full-on ready. But I take small breaks in between, to come back here during the show, just to do some re-touches on makeup or fix my nails. I get most of my outfits from Forever 21, I’m super cheap, I drag on a dime!
Photo by Michaela Holland
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Twiggy
on Trade
Twiggy
on Tucking
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Q: You say you have a supportive boyfriend. Would you say that your family is supportive of what you do?
A: Oh yes, like I mentioned, when I was a little boy, I would dress up, yet my family never made any judgments nor tried stopping me from dressing up like a girl. When I was a part of my high school’s theatre club, my family would come to watch all of my plays, and now that I’m in Shark Club, my family members continue to support and watch my shows.
Q: The baby-maker…is it tucked? Removed?
A: It’s tucked, I tuck it in with my underwear, but you see, you can’t possibly see any bulge or anything since I’m wearing like 5 different layers of clothing; we wear padding under our tights and outfits to make our hips look bigger. I don’t shave my legs; my legs are hairy as hell! Oh yes, go ahead, you can touch! Piece of advice: make sure you pee before you tuck!
Q: It seems as if the cards were always in your favor, so ever since you started here in Shark Club, was the community very supportive of you? Did you receive more positivity or negativity?
A: Well, I now receive mostly all just positivity. But when I started, the community didn’t really like or accepted me, at first, because the community believed that I was just this big ol’ man trying to doing Drag. But turns out, that being really tall and big, worked in my favor at the end, see it’s because of my size that I feel I have more confidence, more to work with, when the Drag Show is over, the kids remember me. And that’s something; you can be the most beautiful Drag Queen, have the best hair and makeup, but if the crowd doesn’t remember you, if you don’t have that extra something, then you’re not doing drag right. People love what I do, they love how I keep the show going, and I’ve formed so many sisterhoods here. Shark upholds a very positive vibe for the most part.
Q: You mentioned that you’re a host? Do you perform as well?
A: Yes, I do preform. I’ll usually preform to Rihanna or Lady Gaga, anything that will let me unleash my inner diva. But beyond as the host of the club, or a performer, I’m known as the “She-Hulk of Drag.” I attribute my success in being a host to just being blunt, I just say what’s on my mind in the moment.
Q: How do you keep your figure? Do you work out? Diet?
A: It’s all smoke and beers. I actually eat Jack-in-the-Box all the time.
Q: Would you ever consider becoming a full on woman, going through the surgery?
A: Oh no, no, no, I love being a man, what I do, here in the club, it’s just considered as a hobby. It’s just dress-up, preforming, you know, something that I can escape reality and just enjoy being something I’m not. Being a man that can dress up as a beautiful woman is so empowering, I can be the best of both worlds.
Guess Who?
Meet Elliot White
Photos courtesy of Elliot White/ Twiggy